Activision Almost Had The Opportunity To Own Rare
Ed Fries, co-creator of the original Microsoft XBox, just told IGN that they almost didn’t secure Rare as a second party. “We put in a bid and then Activision outbid us, and it looked like we were going to lose the deal,” he said. “And then at the very last minute Robbie [Bach, forner XBox boss] increased our bid and we won the deal. And that was it.” Fries added, “Who knows what could have happened with Rare.”
So what would this alternate past and present have looked like? We can make some guesses based on Activision’s behavior with the franchises they currently own. It’s an easy presumption that we’d be getting basic sequel after basic sequel to our favorite N64 properties, instead of none at all, but odds are better that wouldn’t be the case.
Activision also owns Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, and after putting them through their paces on PS2 and Game Boy Advance, quietly retired them both when the mascot platformer market went dead. Both characters only show up on rare occasions now, mostly to make appearances in Activision’s own Skylanders franchise.
So it’s likely we wouldn’t have seen Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts ever happen. Instead Banjo-Kazooie 3 — a more traditional game — would have appeared on Gamecube, PS2 and XBox, followed by a reconfiguring of Donkey Kong Racing into a Rare-characters racer (which sort of happened with Banjo Pilot on the GBA). Then perhaps a couple more sequels, followed by the shelving of Bird and Bear. In other words, they would be in the same situation they’re in now, only with more past titles to pick from.
Perfect Dark might have gone the annual-sequel route, being farmed out to multiple development studios, and might still be getting them today. Jet Force Gemini, Blast Corps and other second-tier IPs would be ignored (just like they are now). Activision wouldn’t know WHAT to do with Conker and would have immediately stuffed him in the warehouse forever. You decide if this is better or worse than the cringey side-projects Microsoft has been shoehorning the squirrel into.
In short, Rare being owned by Activision wouldn’t have changed much about the current situation of classic characters. But it’s hard to guess if the original IPs Rare developed under Microsoft (Viva Pinata, Kameo, that fetid ghost game) would have happened under Activision’s watch, given with each passing year, the number of IPs they’ve kept alive has diminished. Sea of Thieves may not have even happened at all.